diff --git a/src/enc-base64.js b/src/enc-base64.js
index 1d09ec9..67fce1d 100644
--- a/src/enc-base64.js
+++ b/src/enc-base64.js
@@ -73,32 +73,43 @@
             // Shortcuts
             var base64StrLength = base64Str.length;
             var map = this._map;
+            var reverseMap = this._reverseMap;
+
+            if (!reverseMap) {
+                    reverseMap = this._reverseMap = [];
+                    for (var j = 0; j < map.length; j++) {
+                        reverseMap[map.charCodeAt(j)] = j;
+                    }
+            }
 
             // Ignore padding
             var paddingChar = map.charAt(64);
             if (paddingChar) {
                 var paddingIndex = base64Str.indexOf(paddingChar);
-                if (paddingIndex != -1) {
+                if (paddingIndex !== -1) {
                     base64StrLength = paddingIndex;
                 }
             }
 
             // Convert
-            var words = [];
-            var nBytes = 0;
-            for (var i = 0; i < base64StrLength; i++) {
-                if (i % 4) {
-                    var bits1 = map.indexOf(base64Str.charAt(i - 1)) << ((i % 4) * 2);
-                    var bits2 = map.indexOf(base64Str.charAt(i)) >>> (6 - (i % 4) * 2);
-                    var bitsCombined = bits1 | bits2;
-                    words[nBytes >>> 2] |= (bitsCombined) << (24 - (nBytes % 4) * 8);
-                    nBytes++;
-                }
-            }
+            return parseLoop(base64Str, base64StrLength, reverseMap);
 
-            return WordArray.create(words, nBytes);
         },
 
         _map: 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/='
     };
+
+    function parseLoop(base64Str, base64StrLength, reverseMap) {
+      var words = [];
+      var nBytes = 0;
+      for (var i = 0; i < base64StrLength; i++) {
+          if (i % 4) {
+              var bits1 = reverseMap[base64Str.charCodeAt(i - 1)] << ((i % 4) * 2);
+              var bits2 = reverseMap[base64Str.charCodeAt(i)] >>> (6 - (i % 4) * 2);
+              words[nBytes >>> 2] |= (bits1 | bits2) << (24 - (nBytes % 4) * 8);
+              nBytes++;
+          }
+      }
+      return WordArray.create(words, nBytes);
+    }
 }());